Every stranger knows something you could not learn by being yourself.

Every person carries knowledge shaped by a life you did not live, a job you never had, a place you have not been, a difficulty you were spared. That knowledge is not available from inside your own experience at any price, and most of it is freely given if someone asks with real interest.

Ask one person this week something specific about what they know and you do not. Not small talk, an actual question about their work, their childhood, their craft. People light up when asked properly about the things they understand, and you come away with something you could not have got alone.